as in labor
very hard or unpleasant work
after years of toil in a sweatshop, Kim was finally able to start her own dressmaking business
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in tangle
usually toils plural
something that catches and holds
a married woman hopelessly caught in the toils of an extramarital affair
Synonyms & Similar Words
as in to labor
to devote serious and sustained effort
toiled for many years on the mammoth outdoor sculpture
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of toil
William Jones, USA Today, 3 Oct. 2025
The emotional toil caused by doomscrolling has been shown to cause real harm.
—ArsTechnica, 22 Sep. 2025
Molly Parks, The Washington Examiner, 17 Oct. 2025
Keaton Middleton had the type of year last season that thousands of hockey players who have toiled away in the minors dream of.
—Corey Masisak, Denver Post, 24 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for toil
Noun
Erginoglu planted over 11,000 trees along with installing water pipes - the completion of an incredible 30 years of dedication and hard toil.
—William Jones, USA Today, 3 Oct. 2025
The emotional toil caused by doomscrolling has been shown to cause real harm.
—ArsTechnica, 22 Sep. 2025
Verb
Several Democratic incumbents are seeing their young primary opponents boast impressive fundraising numbers as the party toils between placing its faith in its incumbent establishment or in a future featuring younger, more progressive candidates.
—Molly Parks, The Washington Examiner, 17 Oct. 2025
Keaton Middleton had the type of year last season that thousands of hockey players who have toiled away in the minors dream of.
—Corey Masisak, Denver Post, 24 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for toil
Recent Examples of Synonyms for toil
Verb
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In service jobs, Black workers labored as porters, chauffeurs, and servers; in manufacturing plants, white supremacist pseudoscience was harnessed to justify forcing Black workers to perform the most difficult and dangerous work.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
20 Oct. 2025
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The Bears labored much of the rest of the evening.—
Jeff Faraudo,
Mercury News,
18 Oct. 2025
Verb
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In my experience, this is especially true in the lonely hours of the night while struggling with chronic pain.—
Joni Eareckson Tada,
MSNBC Newsweek,
25 Oct. 2025
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After an effort to create a Falls of the Ohio national park fell short in 1967, Kentucky and Indiana officials struggled to stop the falls from becoming a garbage dump.—
Leo Bertucci,
Louisville Courier Journal,
25 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Sweet Vincent, written and directed by Ciara Boniface, centers a professional jazz musician reconciling with an old flame during a pivotal performance, both haunted by grief and striving for connection.—
Okla Jones,
Essence,
23 Oct. 2025
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The communique said Beijing will strive to improve people’s welfare and the social security system, but did not provide details on how Beijing intends to achieve that or where the funds would come from.—
Reuters,
NBC news,
23 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Unlike many recycling approaches, this method works across multiple plastics and even mixtures, producing gram-scale yields that point to real-world feasibility, as per the release.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
27 Oct. 2025
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The humanities program will work with the arts board's Folk & Traditional Arts Apprenticeship program to train master and apprentice Wisconsin folk artists in planning and producing public programs that showcase and contextualize cultural traditions, stories and histories.—
Jim Higgins,
jsonline.com,
27 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Toil.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/toil. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.
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